Owen's appointment was good. I really liked the doctor, which is
always helpful. She listened to my long story about everything that
I've noted up to the present, and what my suspicions were (dairy, soy,
and likely at least one more thing I hadn't figured out yet).
She was very pro-BF, which is great. She did mention that it was
important for me to get adequate nutrition (both to benefit myself and
Owen), and for some people that is hard on an elimination diet. She mentioned that if
I had a problem keeping my supply up or couldn't keep myself healthy on
the elimination diet, that there were some formula options out there that we could
try. I liked that she just talked about this matter-of-factly, not as a
threat or a prediction, but just as a tool if we ever needed to go that
route.
I think that in the past, I may have been possibly upset about any mention of formula and
me not being able to keep my diet good for him before diving down the
food allergy path--but now I am just viewing this all through my new food-allergy-kid's-mom glasses. I still want to do everything I can to NOT go on those
nasty elementals, and I don't think we'll have to. But it's been thrown
out there as a last-ditch tool if I can no longer feed him other things
safely.
She was also not upset about Owen's small size (which can sometimes
be a side-effect of some food allergies, and more common in babies with
multiple allergies), and said that hopefully we can keep him growing
bigger, but that as long as he's not losing, we're doing okay
currently.
We did skin testing, I forgot the official name of that kind of test,
but it was pretty easy on him. It didn't seem that painful, and he only
started crying halfway through. We did 14 scratches. She tested for
dairy, egg, soy, wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, rice,
oats, sesame (my add-on), and tomato (another of my add-ons). Then
there were two control scratches--one empty, and one with pure
histamine. Owen's reaction to the egg one looked identical to the
histamine control, and the milk was a little better. The soy was only
slightly inflamed, and she said she was borderline on calling it a
reaction, but weighed with my experience of his reaction to soy in my
diet, we're calling it a low positive.
She's hopeful that the soy allergy is on its way out, that he may be
outgrowing it. She mentioned that we could do a blood test at a year to
get more information on it, but probably only if we're drawing blood
for something else--she wants to add it on. I think that we only really
want to know about soy so badly since he also needs to avoid milk.
We were prescribed epi-pens, and I need to carry them and benadryl at
all times, just in case. I think they were surprised at the intensity
of his egg reaction, and I know I can't possibly keep him totally away
from egg and dairy. *I* can, but with two older kids dropping food, and
milk and egg being sort-of "invisible" allergens, "He can eat brownies
and things that are baked, right?" I've already heard twice in talking
to people! I feel much better knowing that I can help him if he does
have a bad reaction someday. It's interesting to note that as far as I
know, he's never really even eaten egg or milk--he's developed this
sensitivity to it through my breastmilk. It scares me to think that he
will probably get one of those things in his mouth someday!
She also said he could outgrow the allergies, and that many kids do. He may not, but he might!
Sorry so long. I am sure I'm forgetting things, so feel free to ask
if I've left out anything specific you wanted to know about.
